Improvement in center-boards



`l. L.V DIC KEN S0 N.

Center-Board.

Patented-Aug. 24,1875.

fr f/ mmm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH L. DIGKENSON, OF HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN CENTER-BOARDS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 166,970, dated August 24, 1875 application led .any 24, 1875.

To all 'whom fit may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH L. DIGKEN- SON, of Hempstead, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement'in Hanger Center- Boards, of which the following is a specification:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a center-board trunk, showing the centerboard in place and raised. Fig. 2 is a portion of the same section enlarged. Fig. 3 is a detail cross-section taken through the line x x, Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts.

The object of this invention is to furnish animproved method of hanging center-boards, which will enable the center-board to be shipped and unshipped While the vessel is oating in the water and loaded, and which will wholly prevent leakage around the center-board bolt.

The invention consists in the combination of the hinged hook, the bolt, and the key with the center-board and the trunk, and in the mode of inserting the center-board bolt in the trunk-timbers to make it water-tightthat is to say, by inserting the bolt in a hole open at only one end, and closing the open end of said hole with a soft wood plug, as hereinafter fully described.

A represents the center-board trunk, which is constructed in the usual Way. B is the center-board, the lower forward corner of which is beveled off, and to which, just above said bevel, is attached a hinged hook, O, the forward end of which is made flaring or dovetailed. as shown in Figs. l and 2. D is the center-board bolt, which is inserted in the keel-timbers that form the lower part of the'trunk A. The bolt D is inserted in a hole bored from one side of the trunk, and into, but not through, the timbers upon the other side of said trunk. The bolt D is made shorter than the hole, and the open end of the said hole, after the said bolt D has been driven into place, is closed by a soft wooden plug driven into it, so that no water can work in around said bolt and injure the cargo, as frequently happens when the bolt is put in in the usual way. The rear end of the center-board B is raised and lowered and supported by a chain, E, attached to its upper rear corner, and which passes 11p through a hole in the top ofthe trunk A, and is secured, when the center-board B has been adjusted, to a belaying-cleat, F, attached to said top. The forward end of the centerboard B is raised and lowered, in shipping and unshippiug it, by a chain, G, which is att-ached to an eye formed upon the hook O. The hook O is locked upon the bolt D, when the center-board B is hung, by the key H, which is passed down along the forward post of the trunk A, so that its lower end may pass between the said post and the hook G, as shown in Figs. l and 2. The inner side of the key H is grooved longitudinally to receive the chain G, which is kept in place in said groove by keepers or staples attached to said key. The lower end of the key H is beveled off, so that it may readily pass into place, and the part of it that rests against the hook O is faced with lnetal to prevent wear. For the same reason the bevel of the lower forward corner of the I center-board B is also faced with metal.

By this construction it is impossible for the hook C to become unhooked, when the key H is in place, without crushing the thickened end of the said hook, which is made too large and heavy to allow this to be done.

To un'ship the center-board, the key H is withdrawn, the center-board is raised and carried forward by the chains Gr E, which raises the hook C from the bolt D. rEhe center-board is then carried back and lowered.

The center-board is shipped or hung by raising it through the rear part of the trunk A, carrying it forward and lowering it, which causes the hook G to hook upon the bolt D. rlhe key H is then lowered into place.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent Tile combination of center-board trunk A, having a hole bored into but not through its timbers, a bolt, D, shorter than said hole, and a superimposed plug of wood'to be driven into said hole, as and for the purpose specified.

JOSEPH L. DIOKENSON.

Witnesses:

J AMEs T. GRAHAM, J AMEs H. HUNTER. 

